Ahmad Swaid

Ahmad Swaid or Ahmad Ali Swaid was born in London to Lebanese and Sierra Leonean parents. He spent his childhood across Beirut, Freetown, Aleppo, and London.

Career

Early Career

Swaid started his career at Garage Magazine and consulted at System Magazine before joining Dazed Media in the UK, where he served as Head of Content across titles including Dazed, AnOther, Dazed Beauty, Nowness and Dazed Studio. In 2022, Vogue Business announced his appointment as Editor-in-Chief of GQ Middle East.He was the second person to hold the role since the magazine’s launch.

After a two-year tenure at GQ, he rejoined Dazed stepping into the role of founding Editor-in-Chief of Dazed Middle East & North Africa (Dazed MENA), as reported Business of Fashion.

Swaid has worked on projects in the fashion and arts industries, including with designer Grace Wales Bonner.

GQ Middle East

In March 2022, Swaid was appointed Editor‑in‑Chief of GQ Middle East. On the appointment, Swaid stated in an interview, "I'm excited to ring in a new era at a time of great global change. The voices of the next generation have never been so important." His tenure at GQ Middle East included features on Mohammed El‑Kurd, Iman Hammam, Marwan Pablo, Karim Benzema, Hamed Sinno, Shabjdeed. Christiane Amanpour and Motaz Azaiza both won GQ’s Man of the Year awards in 2022 and 2023 respectively. Under Swaid’s leadership, the magazine published an issue in June 2024 focused on Sudan and the crisis there.

Dazed MENA

In December 2024, Swaid became the founding Editor‑in‑Chief of Dazed MENA, the Middle East and North Africa edition of Dazed, published by ITP Media Group in partnership with Dazed Media. He had previously spent over five years at Dazed in the UK and in a post on his Instagram described leading the regional launch as “full circle”.

• Issue 00 (Inaugural): Launched in winter 2024, featuring nine different covers and featuring cultural stories from across the Global Majority (such as Afghan girlhood, Ethiopian female skaters, Sri Lankan surfers, and Gazan parkourists), as part of a thematic focus, “Creativity in the Age of Chaos.”
• Issue 01 (March 2025): Titled “New Archetypes”, the edition featured Kurdish rap duo Biji, poet Mohammed El‑Kurd, fashion designer Willy Chavarria, supermodels Nora Attal, Malika ElMaslouhi, Paloma Elesser, and Alek Wek, plus artist collaborations including Pegah Farahmand and Akram Zaatari.

• Issue 02 (mid‑2025): Focused on “Nightlife. Performance. Rituals.”, featuring Indya Moore on the cover, Sufi rituals, motorbike culture in African diasporas, and equestrian traditions in Egypt. In his Editor's Letter for the issue, Swaid described it as “our most potent edition so far,” exploring themes of love as resistance and faith, and sparking important conversations about queerness, faith, and visibility.

Philanthropy & Mentorship

In response to the 2020 Beirut explosion, Swaid co‑founded Creatives for Lebanon, a nonprofit initiative formed in response to the Beirut explosion to support the city’s creative community.” He has also participated in the QASIMI RISING Talent Incubator and has lectured at academic institutions such as Istituto Marangoni Dubai.

References

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